US 11,671,345 B2
Self-expansion of a layer 3 network fabric
Raja Kommula, Cupertino, CA (US); Rajendra Yavatkar, Saratoga, CA (US); and Thayumanavan Sridhar, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Nicira, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed by Nicira, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 12, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/96,087.
Application 17/096,087 is a continuation of application No. 15/647,656, filed on Jul. 12, 2017, granted, now 10,848,413.
Prior Publication US 2021/0067433 A1, Mar. 4, 2021
Int. Cl. H04L 45/02 (2022.01); H04L 49/10 (2022.01); H04L 41/12 (2022.01); H04L 49/1515 (2022.01); H04L 45/24 (2022.01); H04L 45/00 (2022.01); H04L 45/48 (2022.01); H04L 43/0817 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 45/02 (2013.01) [H04L 41/12 (2013.01); H04L 49/10 (2013.01); H04L 43/0817 (2013.01); H04L 45/04 (2013.01); H04L 45/24 (2013.01); H04L 45/26 (2013.01); H04L 45/48 (2013.01); H04L 45/54 (2013.01); H04L 49/1523 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of self-expanding a Layer 3 (L3) fabric of a communication network comprising one or more spine switches having a leaf-spine topology, the method comprising:
until a reply to one of a plurality of probe messages is received, periodically transferring the plurality of probe messages from each of the one or more spine switches to a network address from a pool of one or more network addresses reserved for discovering computing nodes to be added the L3 fabric, wherein the pool limits a number of network addresses to which probe messages are sent for discovery of the computing nodes;
receiving the reply to one of the probe messages from a new computing node at the network address;
in response to the reply, incorporating the new computing node into the L3 fabric, wherein incorporating the new computing node includes assigning a new network address not in the pool to the new computing node; and
after assigning the new network address, resuming periodic transfer of the plurality of probe messages to the network address until a second reply is received to another of the plurality of probe messages from another new computing node at the network address.